All products featured on Teen Vogue are independently selected by our editors. However, when you buy something through our retail links, we may earn an affiliate commission.
Riding the Y2K wave we’re all perpetually on, Coach is reissuing their Demi bag in all new colorways. As a Gen Z fan-favorite, Coach has managed to become a staple piece of fashion’s current zeitgeist. We’re all craving nostalgia and holding anything reminiscent of the early 2000s near and dear to our fashion hearts.
The push for nostalgia bulldozed through most people during the early stages of the pandemic when we were all restricted to the inside of our homes. This led to deep exploration and admiration of the early years, especially in connection with the times’ unique fashion trends. Now, Gen Z cannot seem to get enough of rebuilding a fashion landscape reminiscent of the past. Hence why Y2K is all the rage.
A Y2K icon, the Demi bag originally released in 2003. Now, the Coach design team is reimagining that same bag for the current generation of fashionistas. The latest campaign celebrating the new Demi bag includes model Anajah Hamilton and influencer Gabrielle Richardson.
The structured silhouette has a comfortable adjustable strap, a convenient outside zip pocket and a spacious interior with room for your phone, wallet, keys, and other essentials. Want even more reasons to love it? It’s environmentally conscious — crafted of signature jacquard made from a blend of organic cotton and recycled plastic bottles, a special leather created from leather shavings and scraps at the tannery and finished with an organic cotton canvas lining.
“To be one of the campaign stars for Coach’s latest collection feels really exciting,” Hamilton tells Teen Vogue. “I feel like a lucky girl. I would style the Demi bag with a pair of baggy, straight leg, low waist jeans, a cute tank top, pointed toe heels, and a colorful scarf to match the bag! Oh and a bunch of gold jewelry. Can’t forget that!” Hamilton also shares that her personal favorite from the drop is the pink Demi bag.
“Y2K trends that I hope stay around forever are bedazzling everything,” Hamilton says. “Bedazzled hair, makeup, phones, jeans! It’s so fun! But trends I’m not favoring are people throwing together an insane outfit and saying it’s Y2K. It isn’t, and that is okay!”
Coach continually sits at the forefront of staple brands that have surfed the evolution of trends and stayed afloat. The brand has been a foundational part of many young people’s love for fashion and accessories. Many of us can remember our first Coach bag or like Hamilton, almost first. She recalls going to Times Square for the first time in the early 2000s with her grandmother. A street vendor was attempting to sell her a Coach bag — a fake one, unbeknownst to her. Of course, her grandmother said no, but Hamilton remembers just being devastated. She even remembers crying over it.
“Now, getting to work with the Coach team is so fun,” Hamilton says. “My favorite part is how creative their ideas are for their photoshoots. It’s always really fun and exciting to come to the Coach set knowing what you’re doing but being surprised at how cool it actually is.”
Hamilton, outside of modeling, also focuses heavily on music. When she’s not gracing the covers of fashion campaigns, she’s working on upcoming projects.
“Making music and being a person who is artistic, can feel like tunnel vision,” Hamilton says. “I feel fashion inspires my creative process by allowing me to show another side of my personality and creative mind through style. I have a lot of songs that I’ve been working on and my second EP that I’m nervously excited to share. I haven’t released any music since before quarantine so I’m super excited.”
And from the looks of it Y2K fashion seems to be sticking around for a little bit longer. For Hamilton, style choice is all about finding balance and what fits your personality. Trends come and go. Find something worth lasting forever.
“Personal style to me means having an identity for yourself and properly representing yourself to the world without speaking,” Hamilton says. “From my memory as a child, I thought everything during the Y2K era was ugly. But of course because of trend cycles, everyone picks and chooses what they like from different eras. Y2K style currently, is super girly futurism. Bright colors, bold patterns, and loud textures. I appreciate the resurgence. I think it’s fun.”
